The BBC presenter John Inverdale has apologised to the Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli for describing her as "not a looker" shortly before her win on Saturday, calling his remarks clumsy and ham-fisted.

Opening his coverage of Sunday's men's final for BBC 5 Live, He said he had written to the player to apologise "if any offence was caused", after his comments a day earlier sparked a furious response.

The BBC was forced to apologise after Inverdale, speaking before Bartoli's match against Sabine Lisicki, told listeners of Radio 5 Live: "Do you think Bartoli's dad told her when she was little: 'You're never going to be a looker, you'll never be a Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight'?"

The comment provoked an immediate online backlash, with many taking to Twitter to condemn the presenter's comments, some under the hashtag #everydaysexism. "Appalling comments from John Inverdale. Imagine how that will affect all the young girls watching today," wrote user @purpelle.

"John Inverdale is never going to be a looker, or a thinker, or as good at anything as Bartoli," said a second Twitter user.

"Don't hear them commenting on Murray's looks," wrote another.

Having tried to defuse the row on Saturday by saying he had been attempting to "poke fun, in a nice way, about how she looks", Inverdale was forced to return to the subject a day later, saying: Yesterday, he said: "Before we start I probably ought to return to yesterday and a clumsy phrase I used."

Bartoli said that Inverdale's comment would not ruin the greatest day of her life. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images -/AFP/Getty Images

He said he had been trying to make the point "in a ham-fisted way" that "in a world where [players] are all 6ft tall", Bartoli's achievement was particularly impressive – the French player is 5ft 7in.

"I have apologised to Marion by letter if any offence was caused and I do hope we can leave the matter there."

Bartoli said after he match: "It doesn't matter, honestly. I am not blond, yes. That is a fact. Have I dreamt about having a model contract? No. I'm sorry.

"But have I dreamed about winning Wimbledon? Absolutely, yes. And to share this moment with my dad was absolutely amazing and I am so proud of it."

In remarks to French journalists, she added she wanted the BBC man to come and see her at the traditional end-of-Wimbledon ball in London. " I invite this journalist to come and see me this evening in ball gown and heels, and in my opinion he could change his mind."

She would be able to watch the match repeatedly on DVD and look at photographs of herself holding the trophy, she said. "That is the most important thing to me and not what I can do outside of the court."

Her father Walter Bartoli said: "The relationship between Marion and me has always been unbelievable so I don't know what this reporter is talking about. When she was five years old she was playing like every kid and having fun on the tennis court. She's my beautiful daughter."

The BBC later said: "We accept that this remark was insensitive and for that we apologise." But it resisted calls for the commentator to be replaced for coverage of the men's final as a result of his comments.